


Lionheart

by Anonymous



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 01:39:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14486007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Following the disaster at the Temple of the Ancients, Aerith makes the decision to face Sephiroth alone and leaves Gongaga in the dead of night. Nanaki chases after her.





	Lionheart

Aerith was missing when Nanaki went to find her, and when he counted the packs huddled against the inn's wall, he guessed where she might have gone. Luckily, her trail was still warm; she had always carried a distinctive scent, one that reminded him of dew-filled mornings and fresh green shoots sprouting up from the cold, frostbitten soil in early spring. He followed it up the path leading out from Gongaga.

Overhead, the sky was dark but clear, and the moon was high in the sky; even had she wished to hide, it would’ve been difficult to meld into the shadows, and when he caught up to her on the road, it was clear she had been counting on her speed rather than her stealth to see her through the night. Her pack was light and small, her steps hurried and purposeful as she strode north.

"Aerith!" he called, tearing down the road. Then, when her shoulders stiffened and her pace quickened, "W-wait!"

She stopped this time and even turned, though her face was half-hidden by the darkness. Nanaki loped out of the shadows of the brush, tongue lolling and flanks heaving from the run. “Are you going somewhere?”

He didn’t need to see her clearly to taste her uncertainty on his tongue, to smell her indecision in the cool night air. But then she straightened, hitched her pack higher onto her shoulders, and spun around, her feet kicking up dust. The shadows gave her face a sharp edge, like steel, strong, bright, and unbending.

"I'm going to stop Sephiroth," she said.

Her answer both surprised Nanaki and didn't. He padded closer, dogging her steps as she went. "And how will you do that?" he said.

For a moment, she seemed taken-aback, as if she had expected more resistance. Then she said, "I don't know yet. But there's a place..."

"Where?"

She bit her lip and didn’t answer.

"You want to go alone," Nanaki said. A terrible sadness welled up in him when she looked away, and he shook his head. "I don't know where you're going or what you plan to do once you get there, but it's not safe."

"No,” she said. “I have to. This is what I'm meant to do. I feel it..." She clenched her jaw; her tresses swayed in the wind, like trees in the calm, warm winds before a storm; he felt he was at the eye of one now, change and potential swirling about him. "I can't run away from this," she said. She slanted a look down at him. "You understand, don't you?"

He did. They had always had an understanding, the two of them, born from a recognition of each other's loneliness and place in the world. He knew she was speaking of her heritage and duty, about how she couldn’t run away from it, no more than he could his.

But it shouldn’t be happening like this, he thought. She shouldn’t have to face the darkness alone.

"Why don't you wait for Cloud to wake up?" he said. "Then we can accompany you. It'll be safer."

"No, this is something I have to do myself. And I don't want Cloud to—" She cut herself off, and he sensed that she knew more than what she let on. "No, Cloud should stay here."

"There's safety in numbers. Some of us can remain here with him, while the others travel with you."

"The more people who come with me, the greater the chance he'll know we're trying to stop him."

"And what makes you think he doesn't know already?"

She looked aside, off the road, at the underbrush. The crickets chirped, and a nightingale sang a lonely song. Gongaga was invisible behind them now, obscured by a bend in the path.

"This is unwise," he said.

"Maybe. But ... I have to take the chance." She straightened her back, and, in that moment, reminded Nanaki of his father, petrified, standing proud on that cliff. "I can stop him," she said. "I'm the only one who can. I'm the last surviving Cetra. It's my duty."

Duty was a language he understood. But he could see her end, and it was not good. "Aerith," he said. "Come back with me; we can talk this over with the others in the village."

"I can't," she said. "I'm sorry.” Then she raised her hand, her bangle glowing with sudden light.

Nanaki’s reflexes were fast, but not fast enough, not when he faced an unexpected foe. He hadn't thought she was capable of this duplicity, but then again, he thought, as the Sleep spell overwhelmed him, everyone seemed to underestimate her, even him.

Distantly, he registered his body hitting the ground. The world was already growing darker now, the stars and the moon fading. Everything felt heavy. Her hands fell upon his mane, her fingers sliding through his fur.

"I’m sorry," she said again. "But I’ll be back. Take care of Cloud for me, okay?"

Then she rose, and the last thing Nanaki saw was her back fading into the night.


End file.
